Upholstery shampooing machines



Oct, 8, 1968 R. J. I AcHAT ET AL 3,404,420

UPHOLSTERY SHAMPOOING MACHINES med oct. s, 196s AT TOR NE Y Oct. s, 1968 l R. J. LACHAT ET AL I3,404,420

UPHOLSTERY SHMPOOING MACHINES Filed oct. e, 1965 I v sneemheet 2 Fig.l

INVENTORS Witness Oswald M. Porter- Kosta/n] 75m' l ATTRNEY Remy J. Lachaf and United States Patent() 3,404,420 UPHOLSTERY `SHAMPOOING MACHINES Remy J. Lachat, Wellesley, Mass., and Oswald M. Porter, Livingston, NJ., assignors to The Singer Company, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New Jersey Filed Oct. 8, 1965, Ser. No. 494,080 4 Claims. (Cl. 15--29) This invention relates to shampooing machines and more particularly to a hand held shampooing machine especially adapted for cleaning the upholstery of chairs, sofas, etc. and one of the primary objects of the present invention is to provide an improved device of this character.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved shampooing machine which changes liquid shampoo or detergent into a foam and then deposits this foam on a selected surface that is to be scrubbed by a rotating brush.

A further object of the invention is to provide a small compact hand held shampooing machine which is equipped with an electric motor, a bottle for containing a liquid, a rotary bush and means for converting the liquid into foam for cleaning.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a low cost, small sized, upholstery shampooer which is equipped With meansv for converting liquid shampoo or detergent into a foam for cleaning.

Another object of the invention is to provide an upholstery shampooerin which a knob `for controlling dispensing of liquid is located adjacent to the handle of the shampooer.

With the above and other objects in view, as will hereinafter appear, the invention comprises the devices, combinations and arrangements of parts hereinafter set forth and illustrated in theaccompanying drawings of a preferred embodiment of the invention, from'which the several features ofv the invention and the advantages attained thereby will be readily understood by those skilled in the art.

FIG. 1 is an elevational side view, partly in section, of an upholstery shampooing machine embodying the present invention,

FIG. 1)

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken substantially on the line3-3 of FIG. 2, and

FIG. 4 is a bottomfplan view of a portion of the machine shown in FIGS. 1 through 3..

Referring more specifically to the drawings, FIGS. 1 through 4 illustrate a preferred embodiment of an upholstery shampooing machine 16 embodying the present invention and comprising an elongated casing or housing made up of a preferably aluminum housing cover `17 and a preferably aluminumA housingbase 18 designed to er1- close a conventional fractional horsepower electric motor 19. The housing base 18 has a bottom wall 21bounded by an upstanding rim 22 and the housing cover 17 has a top wall 23 bounded by a=depcnding rim 24 which rim 24 envelopes the rim 22.-.A pickup handle 26 extends longitudinally of the casing and is suitably secured to the top wall 23 by screws 27 and an operation handle 28 of an on-olf electricV switch 29 extends upwardly through a hole in the top wall V23. The free end of a shaft 31, which extends longitudinallyof the casing, protrudes from the motor 19 and carries a worm 32` designed to engage a worm gear or wheel 33 held to the upper end of a vertical spindle 34. The spindle 34 is rotatably mounted in bearings 36--36 of a gear box 37A secured to the bottom wall 21, and the spindle 34 extends transversely of the casing.

An inverted cup-like splash guard 38 is secured by 3,404,420 Patented Oct. 8, 1968 screws 39 (only one being shown) to the-undersurface of the wall 21, it being noted (FIG.A 1) that the splash guard 38 extends beyond an end portion 42 of the rim 24. Because of this an upper wall .43 of the cup shaped splash guard 38 functions as a shelf 44 on which rests a bottom wall 46 of a liquid containing bottle 47 designed to hold a cleaning detergent or other liquid. The bottle 47, which is located at one end of the cover 17, in addition to having the bottom wall 46, is formed with a top wall 48 and connecting upstanding side walls 51, 52, 53, and 54. The bottom wall 46' of the bottle 47 is formed with an aperture designed to receive, by :a liquid-tight connection, the upper end of an outlet valve seat member 56 which is formed with a central opening or passageway 57 designed to act -both as a valve seat for a valve head 58 and as a passageway for a valve stem 59. An upper portion of the stem 59 passes through a spring box 61 which itself passes through an aperture in the top wall 48. The top of the valve stem 59 is equipped with a dispersing knob 62, and with a depending sleeve 63, the lower .end of which engages the upper end of a compression spring 64 positioned in the box 61. It will be understood that the spring 64 biases the valve head 58 and the stem 59 upwardly, thereby causing the head 58 to engage the seat of the opening S7 thus preventing liquid from flowing through the opening 57. Since the boxY 61 is held by the top wall 48 of the bottle 47, and the valve seat member 56 is held by the bottom wall 46 of the bottle 47 and since the stem S9 passes through both the box 61 and the member 56, it follows that the stem 59 passes through the bottle 47. The top wall 48 of the bottle 47 is also formed with a filling opening which is closed by a bottle fill cap 66. Reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 shows that the dispensing knob 62 is located adjacent to one end of the handle 26.

The bottom Wall 21 of the base 18 and the upper wall 43 of the guard 38 are apertured (FIG. 3) with registering holes which receive a sleeve 67 of a ball camming device 68. The lower end of the sleeve 67 has an inwardly extending flange 69 which retains a ball 71 within the sleeve 67. The ball 71 is pressed downwardly by a plastic block 72 preferably formed from Teflon, and the block 72 is biased downwardly by a helical compression spring 73. The spring 73 is held in the sleeve 67 and the sleeve 67 is secured to the walls 21 and 43 vby reason of a cap 74 threaded to the upper end of the sleeve 67.

The lower end of the spindle 34 has drivingly secured thereto a cylindrical sleeve 80, the lower end of which is formed with a reduced diameter annular groove 81 and a head 82. The sleeve mounts and drives a combined cylindrical rotary brush and a former member 83.

Themember 83 comprises a metallic pan 84 formed with an inner or tirst radial apertured flange 86, an inner or first cylindrical sleeve 87, an intermediate or second radial apertured flange 88, an intermediate 'or second cylindrical apertured sleeve 89, an outer or third radial flange 90, and an outer or third cylindrical sleeve 91. The outer edge of the ange 86 is integral with the upper edge of the sleeve 87, the lower edge of the sleeve `87 is inte gral with the inner edge of the flange 88, the outer edge of the flange 88 is integral with the lower edge of the sleeve 89, the upper edge of the sleeve 89 is integral with the inner edge of the flange 90, and the outer edge of the flange 90 is integral `with the upper edge of the sleeve 91.

The aforesaid parts provide a disc having an annular groove 92 the upper fai'ce of which is open and an annular groove 93 the lower face of which is open.

The pan 84 is detachably mounted on the lower end of the sleeve 80 by means of a collar 94, a diameter ba-r 96, two screws 97,-97, and a disc retainer 98 the full purpose of which will presently be described. The screws 97-97 pass downwardly through holes in the retainer 98, through the apertured flange 86, through holes in a collar 94, and are threaded into the diameter bar 96. A latch 99 is pivotally held to the lower surface of the collar 94 by means of a screw 100. When the latch 99 is closed, a portion thereof enters the groove 81 in the slee-ve 80 and 4thereby secures the member 83 to the sleeve 80 and spindle 34. Opening the latch 99 releases the member 83 from the sleeve 80.

In the upwardly open annular groove 92 of the member 83, at a location between the sleeves 87 and 89, there is positioned a fluid diffusing, .preferably plastic, ring 102. A radial `cross section of the ring 102 is in the form of a right triangle and the surface defined by the hypotenuse of the triangle slopes upwardly from the flange 88 and out Wardly `away from the sleeve 87. Between the outer vertical surface of the lring 102 and the sleeve 89, there is positioned a ring .103 made of sponge-like material. A radial `cross section of the ring 103 is in the form of a rectangle. The space between the ring 102 and the sleeve 87 forms a reservoir for liquid detergent. A camming plate or wobble disc 104, preferably made of nylon is also positioned in the annular groove 92 and the lower surface of the disc 104 engages the sponge ring 103. The disc 104 has a frusto-conical centr-al hole 106, an annular groove 107 the upper face of `which is open, and an outer frusto-conical surface 108 thereby provided 1a wedge shaped outer circumferential portion of the disc 104. A plurality of equally spaced inlet holes 109 extend from the bottom wall of the groove 107, and the upper surface 111 of the disc 104 is so positioned as to be engaged by the aforesaid ball 71. The downwardly open groove 93 receives a brush ring 114 from `the lower surface of which projects an annular row of bristles 116.

In operation, the subject upholstery shampooing machine functions as follows: Pressing lon the knob 62 disengages the head 58 from the valve seat of the opening 57. This allows detergent to drip Ifrom the bottom of the opening 57 into the groove 107 and thence through holes 109 into the space between the Huid dispensing ring 102 and the sleeve 87. Closing the elcetric switches 28-29 e-nergizes, by means of electric conductors (not shown), the motor 19, thus rotating the shaft 31, the worm 32, and the worm gear 33. This rotates the spindle 34, the sleeve 80 and the combined brush and foaming member 83. As the member 83 Irotates the detergent is, by centrifugal 4for-ce, caused to ow up the hylpotenuse of the ring 102 from whence it is delivered to the middle of the sponge ring 103. As the member 83 rotates the ball 71 presses downwardly on the upper surface 111 of the wobble disc 104 thereby alternately compressing and relaxing the sponge ring 103. The hereinbe-fore described alternate compressing and relaxing of the sponge ring 103 causes the detergent to foam, the foam passing from the ring 103 through outlet holes 117 and 118 in the flange 88 and through -outlet holes 122 in the sleeve 89. The foam thus produced is fed to locations within the ring of brush bristles 116 and the foam is worked into the upholstery by the rotary brush bristles 116. Releasing the knob 62 allows the spring 64 to close the valves 56-58 thereby stopping the ow of the detergent. Opening the switches 28-29 stops the .motor 19 and thus stops rotation of the combined foamer and Ibrush member 83.

Having thus described the nature of the invention, what we claim herein is:

1. An upholstery shampooing machine comprising an elongated casing, an electric motor in said casing, a combined brush and foaming member, means for driving said combined brush and foaming member from said motor, said brush and foaming member including a sponge ring and a fluid diffusing ring located adjacent to and inside of said sponge ring, the cross section of said diffusing ring being in the form of a -right triangle, the hypotenuse of which denes a surface sloping upwardly, a liquid containing bottle positioned at one end of said casing, means for supplying liquid from said bottle to a location adjacent to said diifusing ring whereby when said combined brush and foaming member is rotated the dispensing ring delivers liquid lto the middle of said sponge ring, said brush and foaming member 'further including means for manipulating said sponge ring to thereby cause liquid supplied thereto to become foam, and means for feeding said foam to locations within the brush portion of said combined brush and foaming member.

2. An upholstery shampooing machine comprising an elongated casing, an electric motor, a combined brush and foaming member, means for driving said combined brush and foaming member from said motor including a spindle, said brush and foaming member including a sponge ring `and a wobble disc for engaging said sponge ring, a balltype camming device carried by said casing and engaging said wobble disc to cause the dise to wobble as it is rotated by said spindle, a liquid containing bottle positioned at one end of said casing, an outlet valve and passageway position-ed to supply liquid from said bottle to said sponge ring, la dispensing knob, and means passing through said bottle for operating said outlet valve from said `dispensing knob.

3. An upholstery shampooing machine comprising an elongated easing, a pickup handle secured to the top of said casing and extending longitudinally thereof, an electric motor having a shaft positioned in said `casing and extending longitudinally thereof, a spindle extending trans- Versely of said casing, gearing drivingly connecting said motor shaft .to said spindle, a combined brush and foaming member, said member being attached to and driven by said spindle, said brush and foaming member including a sponge ring and a wobble disc for engaging said sponge ring, a camming device carried by said casing and engaging said wobble disc to cause the disc to wobble as it is rotated by said spindle, a liquid containing bottle positioned at one end of said casing, an outlet valve and passageway positioned to supply liquid from said bottle to said sponge ring, a dispensing knob located adjacent to one end of said pickup handle, and means Ipassing through said bottle for operating said outlet valve from said dispensing knob.

4. An upholstery shampooing machine comprising an elongated casing, `a pickup handle secured to the top of said casing and extending longitudinally thereof, a splash guard secured to the bottom of said casing and a portion of said splash guard extending beyond the end of said casing to thereby form `a shelf, an electric motor having a shaft positioned in said casing and exten-ding longitudinally thereof, a spindle extending transversely of said casing, gearing drivingly connecting said motor shaft to said spindle, a combined brush and foaming member positioned in said splash guard and, said foaming member being attached lto and driven -by said spindle, said brush and foaming member including a sponge ring and a wobble disc engaging said sponge ring, a camming device carried by said casing and engaging said wobble disc to cause the disc to wobble as it is rotated by said spindle, a liquid containing bottle positioned on said shelf at one end of said casing, an Ioutlet valve and passageway positioned to supply liquid from said bottle to said sponge ring, a dispensing knob located adjacent to one end of said handle, and means passing through said bottle for operating said `outlet valve from said dispensing knob.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,937,287 11/1933 McGee 15-50 3,065,477 11/1962 McKechnie 15-29 3,186,022 6/1965 Forslund 15-320 X 3,212,117 10/1965 Ernstberger et al. 15--50 3,274,632 9/1966 Franklin 15-29 FOREIGN PATENTS 571,137 12/1957 Italy.

EDWARD L. ROBERTS, Primary Emmi/wr. 

2. AN UPHOLSTERY SHAMPOOING MACHINE COMPRISING AN ELONGATED CASING, AN ELECTRIC MOTOR, A COMBINED BRUSH AND FOAMING MEMBER, MEANS FOR DRIVING SAID COMBINED BRUSH AND FOAMING MEMBER FROM SAID MOTOR INCLUDING A SPINDLE, SAID BRUSH AND FOAMING MEMBER INCLUDING A SPONGE RING AND A WOBBLE DISC FOR ENGAGING SAID SPONGE RING, A BALLTYPE CAMMING DEVICE CARRIED BY SAID CASING AND ENGAGING SAID WOBBLE DISC TO CAUSE THE DISC TO WOBBLE AS IT IS ROTATED BY SAID SPINDLE, A LIQUID CONTAINING BOTTLE POSITIONED AT ONE END OF SAID CASING, AN OUTLET VALVE AND PASSAGEWAY POSITIONED TO SUPPLY LIQUID FROM SAID BOTTLE TO SAID SPONGE RING, A DISPENSING KNOB, AND MEANS PASSING 